Manuscripts (mostly in German) pertaining to Ephrata Cloister, a celibate religious
community of the German Seventh Day Baptists founded ca. 1725 by Georg Conrad
Beissel (b. 1690, d. 1768). The collection includes papers on theology, astrology
and medicine by Jacob Martin (b. 1725, d. 1790), miscellaneous remedies and magical
charms, a 1767 letter from Brother Ezechiel Sangmeister to Conrad Beissel condemning
Beissel's alleged "tyranny and drunkenness," and correspondence of Jacob Martin
that includes an exchange with Jacob Sensenig, 1760 and undated. Also present
are miscellaneous items and printed pieces including a woodcut contrasting Gutenberg's
1440 press with the modern press of 1723, an illuminated calendar and cloister
hymn possibly written by Conrad Beissel, an intricate illustrated monograph by
Beissel, a pamphlet, entitled Act of Incorporation of Seventh Day Baptists
printed in 1860, and a broadside printed on the old Ephrata press during its exhibition
at the Sesqueicentennial of the Franklin Institute in 1874.